On July 5th, the conference of non-governmental organizations “Human rights in the Russian Federation in the year of its presidency in G8 and in the Council of Europe” took place in Moscow. The conference established a systemic human rights crisis and problems with democratic institutions.  The delegates to the conference adopted a petition to the leaders of G8 nations.  (10-JUL-06)

Text: HRH/ Moscow, Yanina Savenko. Sources: hro.org, regnum.ru, civitas.ru

The petition requests to discuss human rights situation in the Russian Federation at the G8 summit that will take place in St-Petersburg in the middle of July. The authors encourage the leaders of G8 to use all means possible to bring the Russian Federation back to the process of democratic development. They also call for the reestablishment of pre-eminence of law for the sake of Russian and Worlds’ peoples’ well-being.  More than 100 participants took part in this gathering, including 50 from different regions and guests from international non-governmental organizations. 

Singing praise to the imaginary freedoms of Russian NGOs
The conference was held right after the international “Civil 8 -2006” Forum (July 3-4), which was organized by the Russian Civil 8authorities and coordinated by Presidential adviser on human rights and development of civil institutions Ella Panfilova. According to the leader of the Moscow Helsinki Group Ludmila Alekseeva, the luxuriously organized “Civil 8 – 2006” was intended to demonstrate great possibilities of [Russian] non-governmental organizations to express freely their opinion.  300 non-governmental organizations from 30 were present at this impressive international forum. However, the delegates at this meeting didn’t focus much attention on human rights issues. Instead, almost all the time was devoted to discussions of such universal topics as energy safety, education, fight against terrorism, business, international trade, etc. In conclusion the conference saw adoption of the document , which was planned to be delivered to the G8 leaders and distributed among many non-governmental organizations and other interested institutions. Among other dignitaries, President Putin took the floor at the conference and described human rights situation in Russian as a positive one. Moreover, he gave his consent to the development of a dialog among Russian authorities, international bodies and Russian public organizations during his presidency in G8. He also promised to inform the G8 leaders about the recommendations prepared by the civil forum.

Systemic human rights crisis in the Russian Federation
In contrast to the “Civil 8 – 2006” the conference “Human rights in the Russian Federation in the year of its presidency in G8 and in the Council of Europe” concentrated mostly on human rights and democracy problems in the Russian Federation. It also discussed the ways to protect interests of Russian citizens in other than political aspects of life. Human rights activists were united in their evaluation of contemporary human rights situation – as “a systemic crisis”, which covered all spheres of modern life. They tackled the following topics:
– legislative and judicial system problems,
– non-compliance with the pledge to abolish death penalty,
– tyranny of the executive powers and the penal system,
– crimes against individuals in the military,
– political persecution,
– erosion of democratic institutions,
– an attack against human rights in the context of fight against terrorism,
– restrictions on freedom of speech, freedom of gathering and freedom of associations,
– the NGOs status,
– restriction of citizens’ electoral rights,
– human rights crisis in the Chechen Republic and in the region of the North Caucasus,
– immigrants’ status,
– increase in racism  and xenophobia,
– state’s use of anti-extremist legislation to exert pressure on civil society,
– reaction of international organizations and democratic states to worsening of human rights situation in the Russian Federation,

Russia’s obligations towards the Council of EuropeSimonov 
 «Our human rights situation is not bad, but extremely bad”, – said President of “Protection of Freedom of Speech” Foundation Alexey Simonov. “But let’s see what we can do”. The conference came up with recommendations on all discussed topics and adopted a petition to G8 leaders. It said: “We believe that Russia’s membership in a club of developed democratic states is an effective instrument of influence. Entering this club the Russian Federation adopted a code of laws based on human rights values and democracy. Today partners of the Russian Federation in the G8 framework must remind the Russian Federation that its status in this elite community depends on delivering on the promises made”.